The US DOJ (Department of Justice) has secured a 20-year prison sentence against the founder of a sprawling crypto investment scheme.

According to prosecutors, this scheme had defrauded more than 90,000 investors worldwide of over $200 million.

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DOJ Exposes and Dismantles $200 Million Bitcoin Ponzi as Founder Receives 20-Year Prison Term

In a statement released on Thursday, the DOJ confirmed that Ramil Ventura Palafox, 61, was sentenced after pleading guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges.

Palafox was the founder, chairman, and CEO of Praetorian Group International (PGI), a multi-level marketing company that claimed to generate outsized returns through Bitcoin trading and crypto-related strategies.

According to court documents, PGI operated from December 2019 to October 2021, raising more than $201 million from investors worldwide. The company promised daily returns of 0.5% to 3%, marketed as profits from sophisticated Bitcoin arbitrage and trading activities.

In reality, investigators found PGI was not conducting trading at the scale required to generate such returns. Instead, it functioned as a classic Ponzi scheme, using funds from new investors to pay earlier participants.

Authorities said at least $30.2 million was invested in fiat currency, alongside 8,198 Bitcoin valued at approximately $171.5 million at the time of investment.

Confirmed losses reached at least $62.7 million, though prosecutors indicated the total financial harm could be significantly higher.

Lavish Lifestyle and Fabricated Profits: How Palafox Hid the Collapse Behind a Luxury Facade

To maintain the illusion of profitability, Palafox allegedly created and controlled an online investor portal that displayed fabricated account balances.

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Between 2020 and 2021, the platform consistently misrepresented investment performance. It falsely showed steady gains and reinforced investor confidence even as the scheme unraveled behind the scenes.

Court filings detail how Palafox diverted substantial amounts of investor funds to finance a lavish personal lifestyle.

According to prosecutors, he spent roughly $3 million on 20 luxury vehicles. He also spent approximately $329,000 on penthouse accommodations at a luxury hotel chain and purchased four residential properties in Las Vegas and Los Angeles worth more than $6 million.

Additional expenditures included around $3 million on designer clothing, jewelry, watches, and home furnishings from high-end retailers.

Prosecutors further alleged that Palafox transferred at least $800,000 in fiat currency and 100 Bitcoin—then valued at approximately $3.3 million—to a family member.

The scheme began to collapse in mid-2021 after PGI’s website went offline and withdrawal requests mounted. Although Palafox resigned as CEO in September 2021, authorities said he initially retained control over company accounts.

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Prosecutors described this case as one of the more significant crypto-related Ponzi schemes in recent years. The sentencing marks a decisive conclusion to a scheme that thrived on exaggerated crypto profits and global recruitment networks.

Parallels with FTX: How PGI Echoed a Larger Crypto Collapse

Despite differences in scale and sophistication, this case is similar in many ways to the FTX collapse and associated contagion. Both exploited the crypto boom, promising investors outsized, unrealistic returns:

• Palafox with daily Bitcoin gains of 0.5–3%,
• FTX through high-yield exchange products tied to Alameda Research.

Investor funds were misappropriated for lavish personal spending:

• Palafox on luxury cars, real estate, and designer goods
• SBF on Alameda’s risky bets, properties, and political donations.

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Both schemes used deceptive methods to maintain investor confidence:

• PGI with a fake portal showing steady gains
• FTX with hidden liabilities and inflated valuations.

PGI defrauded over 90,000 investors with confirmed losses exceeding $62.7 million, while FTX affected millions and billions in missing funds.

Federal prosecutions followed, with Palafox sentenced to 20 years in February 2026 and SBF to 25 years in 2024.

All these highlight a trend among bad actors in crypto while also revealing the DOJ’s ongoing crackdown on crypto-related fraud.

Solana price has broken its short-term bearish structure, signaling a potential momentum shift that could open the door for a bullish expansion toward the $95 resistance zone.

Solana (SOL) price action is showing a notable improvement in structure after breaking out of a local bearish downtrend that had controlled price movement for much of the week. This shift marks an important technical development, as Solana has now printed a new high, signalling a potential transition away from short-term bearish control.

While broader market conditions remain mixed, the change in local structure suggests that downside momentum is weakening. If Solana can continue to build acceptance above key value levels, the probability of a sustained move toward higher resistance increases.

Solana price key technical points

• Local bearish market structure has been broken, confirming a higher high
• Value area low remains intact, supporting higher-low formation
• $95 high-timeframe resistance is the next upside target, if momentum persists

The recent price action on Solana has produced a clear break in market structure on the lower timeframes. After a prolonged period of lower highs and lower lows, Solana has now pushed above prior resistance and established a new swing high. This move invalidates the immediate bearish trend and shifts short-term momentum back in favor of buyers.

Market structure breaks are often early signals of trend transitions, particularly when they follow extended consolidations or corrective phases. In Solana’s case, the breakout suggests that sellers are losing control, at least in the short term, and that buyers are becoming more aggressive at current levels.

Holding value area low is critical

Despite the bullish development, confirmation will depend on Solana holding above the value area low. This level represents the lower boundary of fair value within the current range and often serves as a key decision point for whether to continue or fail.

As long as price action remains above this level, Solana has the opportunity to establish a higher low. A higher low would further reinforce the bullish shift in structure and increase confidence that the breakout is sustainable rather than a short-lived reaction.

Failure to hold this level, however, would return Solana to balance and reopen the risk of renewed consolidation or downside rotation.

Higher highs and higher lows shift bias

If Solana continues to print higher highs while defending higher lows, the broader narrative within the current trading range will begin to shift. Multiple higher highs and higher lows would negate the prior bearish bias and suggest that the market is transitioning into a more constructive phase.

Such transitions often occur in stages, with initial breakouts followed by retests and consolidations before larger expansions take place. This underscores the importance of patience, as short-term pullbacks remain healthy within a developing bullish structure.

$95 resistance comes into focus

With the local bearish structure broken, attention now turns to the next major upside level. The $95 region represents a significant high-timeframe resistance area where price previously faced rejection. A move toward this level would align with typical follow-through behavior after a successful structure break.

Reaching $95 would also place Solana back into the upper portion of its broader trading range. How price behaves around this level will be critical in determining whether the rally extends further or transitions into another consolidation phase.

What to expect in the coming price action

From a technical, price action, and market structure perspective, Solana is showing early signs of a bullish continuation. As long as price holds above the value area low and maintains the newly established higher high, the probability favors further upside exploration.

In the near term, traders should expect some volatility as the market digests the structure break. Controlled pullbacks that hold above support would strengthen the bullish case, while a loss of value could delay continuation.

For now, the evidence suggests that Solana’s recent breakout is meaningful. If momentum continues to build, the $95 resistance level stands out as the next key upside target in the current market phase.